I don't paint people.
I paint what remains when certainty begins to disappear.
A face is never the subject. It is only a starting point – a structure that can be built, erased, painted over and rediscovered.
Every layer conceals something and reveals something else. Destruction and creation belong to the same gesture.
I am not searching for likeness. I am searching for presence.
My paintings emerge through intuition rather than intention. I work until the image begins to resist me. It is within this tension that the work finds its own direction.
What remains on the canvas is neither portrait nor abstraction. It is a trace of a process – open, unfinished and free for the viewer to complete.
Every painting is an attempt to discover something I did not know before.
BIO
Cornel Frey, born in 1958. After training as a draughtsman, he studied graphic design and worked for many years as an art director and creative director for national and international brands.
His exploration of composition, colour and visual communication continues to shape his artistic work to this day. At the same time, he sees painting as a counterpoint to the perfection of the design world. Rather than control, the focus is on openness, layering and a dialogue with the material.
Cornel Frey now lives and works between the Rheingau and Apulia. The landscapes, the light and the simplicity of Mediterranean life are reflected in his visual language, without ever becoming directly representational.